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National Park Tourism Drives Local Economy

By Dawn Davis for Island Eye News

A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 941,514 visitors to Fort Sumter National Monument and Charles Pinckney National Historic Site in 2016 spent $55,049,100 in communities near the park. That spending supported 834 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $69,419,700.

“Fort Sumter National Monument and Charles Pinckney NHS welcomes visitors from across the country and around the world,” said Superintendent Laura Segars. “We are delighted to share the story of these places and the experiences they provides. We also feature the parks as a way to introduce our visitors to this part of the country and all that it offers. National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning more than $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service, and it’s a big factor in our local economy as well. We appreciate the partnership and support of our neighbors and are glad to be able to give back by helping to sustain local communities.”

The Charleston area National Park sites are located in Charleston, Mount Pleasant, and Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina. Sites include: Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, Liberty Square Visitor Education Center, and Charles Pinckney National Historic Site. Combined these sites protect and preserve some of the most iconic sites in American history – from the Colonial era through World War II.

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service. The report shows $18.4 billion of direct spending by 331 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 318,000 jobs nationally; 271,544 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $ 34.9 billion.

According to the 2016 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging (31.2 percent) followed by food and beverages (27.2 percent), gas and oil (11.7 percent), admissions and fees (10.2 percent), souvenirs and other expenses (9.7 percent), local transportation (7.4 percent), and camping fees (2.5 percent).

Report authors this year produced an interactive tool. Users can explore current year visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program webpage: go.nps.gov/vse. The report includes information for visitor spending at individual parks and by state.

To learn more about national parks in South Carolina and how the National Park Service works with state name communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, go to nps.gov/SC.